Surgery for Strasburg – Is There Light at End of Tunnel for Nationals?

Its official! The Washington Nationals have been sentenced to another year, possibly two, of nobody caring about them… and that’s if they’re lucky.

Stephen Strasburg, the unquestioned franchise player, possibly more important to a team than any one player in the league, is undergoing Tommy John surgery.

The phenom is set to go under the knife on Friday, with a 12 to 18 month recovery time, but anytime you’re talking about a pitcher’s throwing arm, their career has to be considered in jeopardy.

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That is not the worst case scenario, as there have been many guys who have come back to be just as dominant. Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals is a good example, and Tim Hudson has come back to put up equally impressive numbers. But the most famous case, not surprisingly, was Tommy John himself.

He was the first guy to undergo the operation, 12-years into his career, and lasted another 14-seasons post-operation.

But as I said, there is no guarantee that the surgery will be a total success. One guy that comes to mind that was just never the same after the surgery was former Blue Jays closer, B.J. Ryan. He experienced a serious drop in velocity after his 2007 surgery and it marked the end of his career, but he was much older when he had the operation.

We won’t know until Strasburg takes the hill again, when that will be is anyone’s guess. What we do know is that this is not only terrible for the Nationals, it’s bad for all of baseball. This kid was/is one of the truly special players to come into the league in some time and as fast as he made his way into the league, he’s gone just as quick.

The top overall pick of the 2009 draft lived up to all the hype; his stats for this shortened season were truly impressive. His 5-3 record may not jump out at you, but remembering he played for the Nationals and received next to no run support on any given night, and five wins is a real accomplishment.

What should impress you is that he had a 2.91 earned run average, a WHIP of 1.07, and only gave up more than three runs in a game once. But what is the most amazing statistic to me, and a true sign of his greatness, was his 92 strikeouts in just 68 innings. He struck out almost half the batters he faced.

The Nationals, who are dead last in the National League East, don’t have much hope of improving next year. But if Stephen Strasburg can come back and be the same pitcher he was in his shortened rookie campaign, they have a bright future down the road. They managed to sign their 2010 entry pick, Bryce Harper, and he is as hyped, if not more so, than Strasburg was.

He won’t be ready to play at the big league level for at least a year, but he’s shaping up to be one of the better young hitters to come into the game in some time.

So, Nationals fans, you may have to wait a little longer than they wanted to, but in a few years you should have a team to be proud of.